Live chat at noon today with economist Tim Bartik on school funding and the achievement gap

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Tim Bartik, former Kalamazoo school board
president and a senior economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for
Employment Research is joining the MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette staff at noon today, Jan. 31.

Return to mlive.com/kalamazoo at noon to participate.

Bartik will be online to answer questions about Michigan school funding
and how it might be changed to help close the achievement gap between
middle- and low-income students.

Bartik gave a presentation to the Kalamazoo school board last week
saying that Michigan could close the gap by spending at least 60 percent
more per
low-income student for targeted interventions, including
preschool, smaller class sizes and high-quality summer school.

Most Michigan schools currently receive about $7,000 per child from the
state for school operations. Bartik said that his analysis suggests that
districts should receive substantially more -- perhaps even double --
for each student who qualifies for the subsidized
lunch program.

Almost 50 percent of students statewide qualify for subsidized lunch program, and about 70 percent of students in Kalamazoo Public Schools.

What questions do you have for Bartik? Feel free to post them in the
comments section below and we will try to ask them during the live chat.